When Push Comes to Shove
by Bookworm1063
Summary: Five times Hades was a terrible father, and one time when he showed up.


**1.**

Hades wasn't going to stop.

The plan had been to just… go. Walk out the door and don't look back, because he was a villain, and he didn't waste time with love. But the nursery was right there, and who knew when he'd see the kid again.

"Hello, Mali," Hades whispered, bending over the rickety crib. It was down to three legs and a pile of old books holding up one corner, and the baby was sitting up inside, watching him with her emerald-green eyes. Her mother's eyes.

"I don't know when I'll see you again," Hades admitted. "And I'm not sure that it should matter."

The baby, of course, said nothing. She was barely six months old. The tuft of hair on her head was purple, but Hades thought he could see some blue streaks.

"You'll grow up strong," Hades said. "I'll make sure of it." Behind him, Maleficent was screaming something at one of her henchmen, and she was coming this way. Hades had to leave.

"See you around, Mali," Hades whispered to his daughter, and then he disappeared.

o-o-o-o-o

**2\. **

Six years later, Hades was walking through the Isle's market when he saw them. Maleficent, carrying that useless scepter (though his ember was in his coat's inner pocket, so he supposed he couldn't judge her), and a girl who must be their daughter at her side.

Maleficent. Mali.

The blue had disappeared from her hair, but the purple reached in wavy locks to her shoulders. She wasn't even seven years old, but she wasn't holding her mother's hand; her shoulders were set back, and she was scowling as her bright green eyes took in everything around her.

Hades considered walking up to them. It was terrifying, what the existence of this child did to him. She made it so much harder not to care.

But she would be better off without him, so Hades slunk back into the shadows, vanishing into an alley behind the marketplace.

o-o-o-o-o.

**3.**

When the supply barges from Auradon came in, Hades didn't have to do anything more than glare at people to make them back off. He helped himself to the best food available (canned vegetables and a couple of packages of dried meat.)

All around him, people were picking over the spoils, and more than one had already been injured in the fighting that broke out everywhere.

Hades felt a small hand slide into his pocket, and he spun around, reaching for the thief's arm. He caught the edge of the child's jacket and spun her around.

She had emerald green eyes set into her thin, pale face, framed by wavy purple hair.

"Hello, Maleficent," Hades said. He would never admit to the rush of… _emotion_ he felt then. Pride and regret, all rolled up into one.

"It's Mal," his daughter said, yanking her arm free of his grasp. "And I know who you are."

"I would be disappointed if you didn't," Hades said slowly. "Tell me, Mali, how is your mother?"

"Fine," she said, lifting her chin and narrowing her eyes. The spitting image of them both- Hades and Maleficent. "We're fine. No thanks to you."

Hades didn't respond; he just held out his hand. Mal smirked at him.

"Finders, keepers… Dad."

She turned away and disappeared into the crowd, taking her spoils with her. Hades didn't follow.

o-o-o-o-o

**4.**

Hades leaned back against the brick wall of the alley, surveying the street from his place in the shadows.

Standing in the middle of the road was a group of kids, facing off against each other. Four of them standing shoulder to shoulder, against two others armed with rusted metal pipes and daggers.

They were shouting at each other, but Hades was just far enough away to not be able to hear the conversation clearly. If he'd still had his powers… but he didn't. He was close enough to get the general idea. Some kind of territorial dispute. Not one of those kids could be much older than fifteen.

One of the boys, the one with a makeshift dagger in his hand, had apparently lost his patience, because he stepped forward and punched one of the other kids in the face- the shortest, with white hair and a red, white, and black leather jacket. The kid stumbled backwards and fell, and two girls- one with blue hair, the other with purple- had to physically restrain the other boy standing with them, the one with the longer brown hair.

"Jay, stop. Jay!" Mal said, loud enough for Hades to hear, and he considered stepping in this time… But if he fixed all of his daughter's problems for her, the way part of him definitely wanted to, she would never learn to take care of herself.

Besides, from the looks of things, she wasn't alone, anyway.

The blue-haired girl, who Hades assumed was the Evil Queen's daughter- he'd never seen the girl, but most people had heard of her, or at least heard of her friends- let go of Jay's arm and spun to help the smaller boy, but he was already back on his feet.

Hades watched the other boy step past his friends and punch the boy with the dagger in the jaw.

Mal clapped him on the shoulder in approval as the boy dropped to the ground, out cold, and the other boy took several rapid steps backwards before sprinting down the nearest alley- fortunately, not the one in which Hades was still lurking.

He watched his daughter loot the unconscious boy's body, and then she and her crew left, and Hades didn't stay long enough to see the second boy, the one with the rusted metal pipe, return for his friend.

o-o-o-o-o

**5.**

Hades was reclining in his most comfortable chair, sunglasses covering his eyes, listening to the sounds of dogs barking coming from the corner of the room. It reminded him of the Underworld, the soothing sounds of Cerberus howling echoing through the palace.

"I brought you canned corn," Celia said, setting the can down on the table next to him. "And peas. It's all they had."

Hades sat up, pushing his sunglasses to the top of his head. "Any news?"

Celia shrugged. "Same old, same old. Prince Ben is taking kids to Auradon, though."

Hades raised his eyebrows, pushing himself to his feet. The tail of his coat swirled around him as he moved to stand in front of Celia.

"Is he now?"

"Yeah," Celia said. "Cruella and Jafar's sons, and the Evil Queen and Maleficent's daughters."

"What?" If Hades had still had his powers, his hair would have burst into vivid blue flames. "Mal?"

"Does Maleficent have another daughter that I don't know about?" Celia placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"No," Hades said, slowly lowering himself back into his chair. "The prince is taking the kids off the Isle?"

"That's what I heard," Celia said. "Why are you so obsessed with Mal, anyway? You ask about her every week."

Hades waved his hand dismissively. "You can go."

Celia rolled her eyes and skipped off towards the tunnel and the rest of the Isle beyond.

So Mal was leaving. For Auradon.

For the thousandth time, Hades considered it. Finding her. If only to say goodbye, because if she left the Isle, what were the chances that she would ever return?

But she would hate him by now, and she was stronger for having grown up without him.

And Hades didn't want to give his daughter any excuse to return to this hellhole, not if he could help it.

So Hades didn't do anything. Again.

o-o-o-o-o

**+1**

Hades leaned against the wall outside the chapel, listening to the music streaming through the open doors. Next to him, the wedding procession formed a line down the steps to Auradon's streets.

On her way past him, into the chapel, Celia shot Hades a thumbs-up. She was wearing a vivid green and pink dress, arm in arm with Dizzy, both clutching baskets of flower petals.

Evie was the last one through the doors before the music swelled, and the trumpets blared, and Mal came up the steps towards her father.

Her dress was beautiful. Evie had designed it, of course, and the deep purple train dragged on the ground behind her. Mal's purple-and-blue hair was up in a high ponytail, and the King's ring shone on her finger. Mal paused next to the open doors, and Hades moved to stand beside her.

"I almost thought you'd chickened out," Mal said, tucking her hand into the crook of Hades' arm.

"Not this time," Hades said. "I just didn't feel like standing in that line."

Mal laughed, and one of the guards waved them forward. Hades watched his daughter take a deep breath before walking into the chapel.

King Ben was standing at the front of the room with Fairy Godmother, who had her wand in her hand. From her seat in the front row, Evie waved to Mal and grinned, and Mal's own smile spread further across her face.

Hades let go of his daughter's arm when they reached the alter and took his seat in the front row. When he knew that neither Fairy Godmother nor Mal was watching, he caught Ben's eye and held two fingers up to his face before pointing them at the king. The universal symbol for _I'm watching you. _

Ben smiled faintly, but he did at least go a little pale.

Hades didn't bother with the glass terrarium balanced on Evie's lap, but he knew the black-and-purple lizard inside was giving him the stink eye.

What he did do, as soon as the ceremony was over, was stand and give his daughter a hug, and shake his son-in-law's hand. He even let Celia give him a hug before she danced off into the crowd with Dizzy.

"I swear she's bigger than she was yesterday," Mal said, taking the terrarium from Evie and holding it up to the light.

"Let's hope not," Hades replied. "If there's one person I could live with never seeing again, Mali, it's your mother."

Evie lifted the Terrarium from Mal's hands, nudging her best friend with her elbow as she did so. "Go on," she said. "You can't be late to your own reception."

"Yeah," Mal said, reaching out to take Ben's hand. She turned to face Hades. "Coming, Dad?"

Hades smiled.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."


End file.
